Slideshare uses cookies to improve functionality and performance, and to provide you with relevant advertising. If you continue browsing the site, you agree to the use of cookies on this website. See our User Agreement and Privacy Policy.

Slideshare uses cookies to improve functionality and performance, and to provide you with relevant advertising. If you continue browsing the site, you agree to the use of cookies on this website. See our Privacy Policy and User Agreement for details.

In this lab, students will design models of dragon “chromosomes” and “cross” their dragons to observe the genotypic and phenotypic outcomes. They will be mimicking the work of scientists like Gregor Mendel, who used peas as a model organism to test hypotheses about heredity. This would take place on Day 2 of the heredity unit – on Day 1, students would complete a guided reading to learn about the work of Gregor Mendel and introduce themselves to some key genetic terms: allele, genotype, phenotype, dominant, recessive, heterozygous and homozygous. Students would have already completed the unit on molecular genetics and sexual reproduction, so they would be familiar with key events of meiosis, the concept of a gene and its location on a chromosome, and how DNA/genes function in genetic inheritance. The purpose of this lab is to help students construct an accurate schema of things like dominance, heterozygosity, and the relationship between genotype and phenotype. Throughout the lab, they will also discover/model key genetic principles: segregation of alleles during meiosis, independent assortment, and linkage. Finally, they will get a better understanding of how/why scientists use models/model organisms to test certain hypotheses.

Engagement:Mythical creatures – appealing to students of many different cultures (dragons are a part of myths of many different cultures), pictures available for students who may be unfamiliar with dragons – could alter to use another mythical creature (e.g. Pegasus, gargoyle, unicorn) based on interests of the classOwnership of traits – as a class, they will decide what traits they want to study for their mythical creatures (e.g., fire-breather vs. non-fire-breather, wings vs. no wings, pink vs. green skin, etc.). They will then arrange those traits as genes of chromosomes.Test their own hypotheses – once the class has “mapped the genome” of the dragon population, students will be able to determine what genetic hypotheses they want to test and determine what organisms they want to use for the P generationConnect to work of real scientists – sometimes students feel that the work they do is “silly” or “pointless” because it’s not “real” – i.e., they are using popsicle sticks as chromosomes of imaginary creatures. I will work to combat this feeling by stressing that scientists use models on an everyday basis to study things they can’t study directly (for ethical, monetary, or other reasons). I can remind students that Gregor Mendel used pea plants for his studies not because he wanted to, but because they were readily available/cheap, easy to raise/breed, and had a practical purpose (food source). I can also remind students of work being done everyday on fruit flies – not because fruit flies are particularly interesting, but because they can serve as a model for other organisms (even humans, to some extent).Challenging:Students have to develop their own hypotheses. They have to decide how their materials can effectively model what happens during meiosis/sexual reproduction. They have to choose what crosses to perform and why (how does it help them answer their question?). They have to decide how many repetitions are necessary for the validity of their experiment. They have to critically evaluate their own and other students’ work.

After individual analyses have been conducted by groups (likely consisting of creating ratios or graphing data), class data will be aggregated to look for genetic principles. For example, if two traits are on the same chromosome, the phenotypes will be “inked – e.g., if the trait for breathing fire is on the same chromosome as the trait for wings, then knowing something about whether or not a dragon breathes fire should also tell use whether or not the dragon will have wings (because the traits are inherited together). On the other hand, if the trait for breathing fire is not on the same chromosome as the trait for wings, the traits should assort independently, meaning knowing something about whether or not a dragon breathes fire has no predictive value for whether or not the dragon has wings.

2.
Plant growth and development A 8th Grade inductive lab to integrate content knowledge with experimental designStudents will design a lab to answer: What factors influence plant growth?

3.
The ChallengesOver a 3 week period of time, 8th grade students may encounter: • How can I identify the independent and dependent variables of my experiment? • How can I control the experimental environment? • What measurement appropriately reflects the changes in the dependent variable? • How can I best present my data to my peers?

4.
What data will be collected? Students will determine the labels on theDay of Plant Height (cm) charts and graphs to increaseGrowth rigor AV1 AV2 AV3 AV4 AV5 AV6 0 Including naming 3 their plants such as AV1 6 for Allen/Volpe Plant 1 9 12 15 18 21 Students will choose to measure plant height, leaf number and/or mass of plants to measure on different intervals of plant growth.

9.
What makes the lesson engaging and challenging? Test their Ownership own of traits hypotheses Connect toMythical work of realcreatures scientists Engagement

10.
What type of data will we collect?• Students will collect actual data representing the results of crosses they perform (data collected will vary based on hypotheses) – Frequency of genotypes – Frequency of phenotypes• They may also choose to use Punnet Squares to compare the actual results of their crosses with the probability of those results• We will analyze the data using graphical and statistical methods, as appropriate

11.
Angles of the Sun• Students will collect data from different locations on Earth• This data will be put into a spreadsheet and used to make graphs, charts, and answer questions

12.
• Data from 5 locations on Earth (Latitude, Longitude).• Angle of elevation for each location at 4 different times of year• Clock time at solar noon (when the sun is due south at a given location)• The relevance is answering the question of why we experience seasonal variation

13.
Chemical Reactions Learning Segment Auburn JamesLaboratory Theme Engaging Students• Chemical vs Physical Changes • Encouraging students to – Students hypothesize, view reactions/changes from observe phenomena, then everyday life through a learn concepts and definitions scientific perspective and how they are applied • Using critical thinking and problem solving to interpret• Types of Chemical Reactions observations to piece – Students first observe four together the curriculum types of reactions, use inquiry “facts” to determine what is • Experiments are hands on happening and kinesthetic – Observations lead to discussion/lecture learning the four types of reactions Image from http://wildeboer-fitch.wikispaces.com/Pkaybroiler+Chemical+Reactions

15.
• Hudson River discharge unit is used primarily to serve as a post assessment summary comparing weather and climate variables and how they interact in a local setting. Additionally it will have students consider human influences on the river. It will have students hypothesis and prove what natural factors influence the discharge rate of the Hudson River at various locations along it’s length throughout the year.• Students will gather data from http://maps.waterdata.usgs.gov/mapper/index.html a government site, and http://www.weather.com/ a commercial site and compare ease of use and abundance of data to create spreadsheet and climographs based on sites along the river.

16.
Student  Challenges of the Unit  Students will have to think creatively as well Engagement as analytically while gathering records from the USGS sites. • Students will be engaged  Many of the gages that students will want to because the bulk of the use have been discontinued due to lack of data they gather will be funding, or have daily rather than monthly based on locations they averages. Students will have to evaluate the know and choose usefulness the data they wish to incorporate themselves. into their spreadsheets. • USGS.gov uses Google  Students will have to use knowledge of Earth skins where students geography, climate and weather of NYS to come up with an explanation for their data can “fly” to gages and and hypothesis. explore their own  Additionally students will compare a neighborhoods for data. commercial site (Weather.com) to a governmental site ( USGS.gov) and discuss the pros and cons of both in their research. Precip.(in) 5 15000 4  Mean DischargeAvg. Precip. (in) 10000 3 (cfs) 2 5000 1 0 0 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec